1920]. Ornithology of the Island of TexeJ. 389 



not cast a feather, and are still in the grey attire of winter. 

 One explanation which has been put forward is that these 

 grey birds are "out of condition/' though what exactly is 

 meant by that term I do not quite know, but it seems to me 

 to be an explanation based simply upon the fact that they 

 have not assvimed summer-plumage! Then, again, why 

 should quite a number of these birds be " out of condition " 

 even though in company with others which are " in con- 

 dition," with which they have travelled north and very 

 probably wintered, and therefore been subjected to the 

 same conditions ? On the other hand, men that have 

 handled such birds tell me that to all outward appearance 

 they are in perfect condition, except that they are still 

 in winter dress. 



That these grey birds do not nest in that year is, I think, 

 quite certain, as all those shot in the breeding-grounds, 

 which I have examined, are in full summer-plumage ; and it 

 is not a little curious that the grey birds should migrate 

 north at all, as far, at least, as the British and the Dutch 

 coasts. Then, again, there are to be found individuals of 

 some waders — Dunlin, Turnstone, Grey Plover, &c., which 

 summer on our shores and do not breed, and yet have 

 acquired as full a summer dress as those which have gone 

 north to breed. If they, too, are " out of condition," why is 

 it that they have attained breeding-dress ? 



These are very interesting problems, and might open up 

 many wide discussions — such as reason and stimulus for 

 a breeding-dress, influence of courtship, effect of possible 

 internal secretions of the breeding-organs, &c., into which 

 I cannot now enter, but they only tend to show how much 

 we have yet to learn. Still there is one suggestion I should 

 like to make as a possible explanation, and that is that 

 the birds which have not gone into breeding-dress are those 

 which have failed to find mates, and the birds which have 

 acquired their breeding-dress but do not breed are those 

 which have lost their mates. It may be said that such birds 

 would surely find now mates ; and, no doubt, this often 

 happens with the Haven, Peregrine, Starling, and other 



